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BIOSANDC.V.
CRAIG CZURY - BIO
CRAIG CZURY (poet, editor, arts advocate) is from the Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania and the author of over 20 books of poetry, including Postcards & Ancient Texts (a 40-year collection of napkin poems), Fifteen Stones (prose poems from Italy, Chile, Lithuania, and the spaces between), and Thumb Notes Almanac: Hitchhiking The Marcellus Shale (docu-poems from his observation and interviews while hitchhiking rural roads in the heart of NE PA.’s “fracking” region).
A 2022 Fulbright Scholar to Chile, Craig was awarded Laureate of the 2011 Ditët e Naimit International Albanian Poetry Festival, and the following year he received the F. Lammot Belin Scholarship for Artists. Most recently Craig toured the Balkans in 2018, giving poetry
readings in Albania, Macedonia, and Kosovo through P.E.N. Albania, to which he was awarded Honorary Membership. In 2019, Craig was honored with the Alexander the Great Gold Medal for Letters & Arts through UNESCO/Piraeus on Salimina Island in Greece; and the Dafne Lifetime Achievement Award in Aulla, Italy.
Czury has spent a lifetime creating energetic poetry performances and poetry environments around the world - in schools, communities, homeless shelters, prisons, and mental hospitals. He is currently living in Scranton where he continues his weekly online "Life-Writing from Cyberia" workshops, and community writing projects.
www.craigczury.com
CRAIG CZURY - CURRICULUM VITAE
CRAIG CZURY
Springville, PA, USA | Soncino, CR, ITALY
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) Creative Writing, Wilkes University, June 2008.
MFA Thesis: CLICK - Mix-Genre Poetry, Nonfiction.
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
English language. Poetry. Poetry writing workshops. Poetry as healing.
World poetry literature. Collaborative multi-voice poetry composition & performance. Poetry murals. Community documentary through interviews & writing oral tales.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
2022 Fulbright U.S. Scholar - Universidad Arturo Prat, Iquique, Chile
2016-2020 Poet in Residence, Instituto Galileo Galilei, Poet-In-Residence, Crema, Italia
2010-2017 Part-time Lecturer, Albright College, Reading, PA.
1984-2019 The Craig Czury International Poetry Project
Public poetry projects in schools, universities, community centers,
prisons, homeless shelters, women’s, shelters, mental hospitals.
AWARDS
2019 - Alexander the Great Gold Medal, UNESCO Piraeus, Salamina, Greece
2019 - Certificate of Honor from P.E.N. Albania, Korca Nghts of Poetry
“ Skender Rusi”. Korçë, Albania
2018 - Skenderbeu Prize, International Literary Meetings "Azem Shkreli",
16th Edition. Peja, Kosovo
2012 - F. Lammot Belin Scholarship for Artists, Waverly PA, USA
2011 - Ditet E Naimet Laureate, Int'l Albanian Poetry Festival, Tetovo, Macedonia
2010-2012 - Poet Laureate of Berks County, Reading PA, USA, 2010
1993 - Key to the City of Scranton, Scranton PA, USA
1980 - First Book Award, Montana Arts Council, Missoula MT, USA
INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVALS
2018 International Literary Meetings “Azem Shkreli”. Peja, Kosovë.
2016 Festival Internazionale di Poesia Virgilio. Mantova, Italy.
2016 "La Palabra En El Mundo", Festival Internazionale di Poesia, X Edizione,
Venice, Italy.
2014 Universidad Arturo Prat de Estado de Chile, Festival and Book Launch for
“So Far…So Close: Contemporary Writers of Tarapacá and
Pennsylvania”. Iquique, Chile.
2013 P.E.N. International. Istanbul, Turkey.
2012 International Poetry Festival. Rosario, Argentina.
2012 International Poetry Festival V.I.P. “Sarajevo Winter”.
Sarajevo & Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovena.
2011 Poetry Festival “Ditët E Naimet 2011” Laureate and Honorary Member.
Tetova, Macedonia.
2006 Poetry Festival “Ditët E Naimet 2006”. Tetova, Macedonia.
2005 Ovid International Poetry Festival. Bucharest, Romania.
2004 Literature Live Festival, International P.E.N. Zagreb, Croatia.
2004 Poetry Festival “Ditët E Naimet 2004”. Tetova, Macedonia.
2004 International Poetry Festival of Medellín. Medellín & Bogata, Colombia.
2003 Rosario International Poetry Festival. Rosario, Argentina.
2003 Junin Literary Festival. Junin, Argentina.
1999-2004 Poetry Autumn Festivals, International P.E.N. Druskininkai, Lithuania.
1999 Poetry Spring International Poetry Festival, Lithuanian Writers Union.
Vilnius, Lithuania.
1998 Gerard Manley Hopkins Poetry Festival. Monesterevan, Ireland.
1988-2000 Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Poetry Festival. New Jersey, USA.
SMALL SAMPLING OF UNIVERSITY READINGS, LECTURES, WORKSHOPS
2018 State University of Tetova, Department of Albanian Language and Literature.
Tetovë, Republika e Maqedonisë (Macedonia). With Albanian PEN Center.
2018 University of Tirana, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Department of English
Language & Literature. Tiranë, Shqipëri (Albania). With Albanian PEN Center.
2018 University "Fan S. Noli”. Korçë, Shqipëri (Albania). With Albanian PEN Center.
2016 British Council, Milano, Italia: Teachers' Development Workshop and
Poetry Reading. Milano, Italy.
2016 St. Bonaventure Univ., Poetry Reading, English Department. Olean, NY.
2016 Pennsylvania Writers Conference: Multi-Media Poetry Performance.
Wilkes University. Wilkes-Barre, PA.
2015 Pennsylvania College English Association: Conference Panelist and
Presenter. University of Scranton, Scranton, PA.
2014 Fracking PA: Documentary Practice and Environmental Activism,
collaborative poetry with photographs and panel talk / poetry reading.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s, MD.
2013 Critical Pedagogy & Creative Writing Workshop, Poem Fusion Lecture
& Demonstration. Manhattanville College, Manhattanville, N.Y.
2010 University of Montana Western, Guest Lecturer. Dillon, MT.
2010 EAPSU (English Association for Pennsylvania State Universities)
Conference. Lock Haven University, Loch Haven, PA.
2009 Montana Tech of the University of Montana, National Summit of
Mining Communities, Keynote Speaker. Butte, MT.
2009 University of Montana Western, Guest Lecturer. Dillon, MT.
2005-10 Kutztown University, Guest Lecturer, English Professional Writing
Program. Kutztown, PA.
2005 Eminescu National College, Visiting Poet. Bucharest, Romania.
1999 Univ. of Vilnius, Dept. English Philology Poem Fusion. Vilnius, Lithuania.
SMALL SAMPLING OF POETRY PROJECTS IN SCHOOLS & COMMUNITIES
2016-2019 Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Galileo Galilei, Poem Fusion Project,
Special Project Coordinator, Crema, CR, Italy
2008-2017 The Maret School, Poet-In-Residence, Lower, Middle & Upper Schools.
Washington, DC.
2007-2010 Cultural Alliance of York, Poet-In-Residence, Children’s Home of York,
York County Prison. York, PA.
2004-2005 Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Teaching. Poetry Consultant,
Millersville University. Millersville, Pa.
2004 Carcel Bellavista (prison). Medellín, Colombia.
2002-2003 Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, consultant.
1999 The Playhouse, Poet-In-Residence, Derry, Northern Ireland.
Project with Americans for the Arts, broadcast on BBC Radio.
1999-2004 Altigimimo High School, Visiting Poet. Druskininkai, Lithuania.
1999 Pushkinskaya 10, Poem Fusion Workshop, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1998-2002 National Endowment for the Arts, Berks Poem Fusion Project,
through Berks Arts Council, Community Poem Fusion Documentary,
Poem Fusions at schools, afterschool programs, homeless shelters,
mental hospitals, prisons, parks, community centers. Berks Co., PA.
1998-2004 Berks Poetry Project, Curator, Poem Fusion workshops at Berks Co.
Juvenile Detention Center, Reading Emergency Shelter. Reading, PA.
1997-2000 Police Athletic League of Reading PA~ Mentoring & the Arts Project.
1996-2000 Arlington Humanities Council, Visiting Poet to Schools, Arlington,VA
1995-1996 AmeriCorps*WritersCorps Project. Washington, D.C.
1995-2002 New Jersey Council on the Arts, Arts-In-Education rostered artist.
1991-1993 Kutztown University, Academic Alliance and Project Adelante,
K.U. Dept. of Education and Allentown School District.
1993-2007 Very Special Arts Delaware - rostered artist. Wilmington, DE.
1993-2011 Capitol School District, Poet-In-Residence, Dover, DE.
1995-1996 Berks Arts Council, Young Authors Festival (coordinator) workshop
for teachers, Reading, PA.
1988-1991 Susquehanna Univ., Summer Writers Conference, Selinsgrove, PA.
1993-2011 Tower Hill School, Poetry Residency, Wilmington, DE.
1988-2007 Delaware Division on the Arts, Arts-In-Education rostered artist.
1988-2000 Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, poetry consultant, N.J. schools.
1989-1990 New Jersey Council for the Arts, Arts-In-Education rostered artist.
1988-2002 N.E. Intermediate Unit #19, Living Arts Program, Visiting Poet, PA.
1984-2015 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Arts-In-Education roster artist.
NEWSFEED
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